Several studies suggest that between 25 to 50% of the time spent in meetings is wasted! If that applies to environmental meetings, then that’s wasted business time, and time you could be using to actively reduce your organisation’s impact. This blog outlines the key requirements of an effective environmental meeting to ensure environmental objectives are achieved in the most responsible and efficient manner.
1. Adopt environmental best practice during the meetings. The last thing an environment meeting needs is to be criticised by the attendees or observers on its environmental credentials. The attendees of an environment meeting are often the environmental ambassadors of the organisation and it’s essential that their behaviour leads by example.
Examples of best practice include:
Be paperless; don’t print out agendas and minutes.
Don’t use disposable items such as plastic cups.
Avoid bottled water, use chilled tap water instead.
Maximise the use of daylight.
Turn all lighting and equipment off when not in use.
2. Clearly define the purpose of the environment team and the environmental objectives and targets to be achieved. This will set the direction and will always be a focal point that the team can return to if the discussion or activity deviates.
3. Ensure only the key people are invited to the meeting. Too many people at the meeting can impinge progress whilst too few could miss out key people.
Key people to include:
Topic and technical experts (internal and external).
Cross function/departmental representatives. Decisions taken in one area can impact activity in another functional area. Business functions or departments are rarely independent and the impact of a proposed change should be reviewed from multiple functional perspectives prior to implementation.
4. Environmental enthusiasts. Drive and enthusiasm are essential to help motivate a group of people and drive change throughout the wider organisation. Environmental enthusiasts may not have the technical knowledge to contribute to the meeting but they are individuals who can positively take the message back to the wider organisational community, encourage participation and support implementation. Environmental improvements are as likely to be focussed on behaviour change as technical solutions.
5. Always prepare and circulate an agenda prior to the meeting. This will enable the attendees to prepare before the meeting, finalise the actions assigned to them and collate any required information. An example of the topics to include on the environment meeting agenda include:
Minutes – review previous minutes.
Progress against the environmental objectives and targets.
Actions – review of previous actions, achievements and difficulties.
Environmental legislation ‘ relevant updates, compliance and related issues.
Environmental audits ‘ the outcome of any environmental audits that have been completed and related actions required.
Training ‘ review of any environmental training needs identified or the outcome of any recent training.
Operational environmental matters ‘ discuss environmental issues that may have arisen as a result of operational activity or changes to the organisation.
Any other business – this allows discussion of environmental concerns or opportunities that may not be covered in other agenda items.
6. Support the discussion of new ideas, implementation methods and improvement opportunities.
7. Encourage the participation of all members and ensure individuals are given the opportunity to contribute to the meeting. It’s not necessarily the most vocal participants that have all the ideas or answers.
8. Ensure the meeting is short and timely. Unfortunately the environment is often at the end of a long list of business priorities and therefore the need to be efficient and effective is crucial. Ensure the meeting starts and ends on time and try to avoid overlong meetings.
9. Minute the meeting. Discussions and outcomes should be recorded formally in meeting minutes. This will allow the team to track progress, double check what was agreed and provide evidence to other interested parties of the effectiveness of the meeting.
10. Assign actions. The most important outcome of a meeting is to agree actions. Clearly record the action, who is responsible and the timescale for completion. Without the assignment of actions it’s unlikely that anything will happen from one meeting to the next. This could result in failure to meet environmental objectives and give the meeting a poor reputation within the organisation.
11. Set the date for the next meeting whilst you have the key people present. If possible, send out an electronic invite at the close of the meeting to ensure all members have the date in their diary before they leave, and don’t forget to book the meeting room.
Environment meetings can be incredibly effective at driving change within an organisation and most importantly, achieving environmental objectives and reducing the negative impact a business has on the environment.
Driving for work is one of the most significant occupational risks most employees are exposed to, but is often underestimated. Up to 1 in 3 road crashes involves a vehicle being driven for work.
Health and safety legislation requires employers to take appropriate steps to ensure the health and safety of their employees and others who may be affected by their activities when at work. This includes driving or riding at work, whether in a company vehicle, a hired vehicle or the employee’s own vehicle. It does not apply to people commuting, unless they are travelling from their home to somewhere which is not their usual place of work.
There will always be risks associated with driving and although these cannot be completely eliminated an employer has a responsibility to reduce these risks and do everything practical to protect people from harm in the same way as they would in the workplace.
Actively managing work-related road safety can reduce the risk of work-related road traffic crashes and collisions. Fewer road incidents also means less days lost to injury, fewer repairs to vehicles and increased productivity.
One way of actively managing work-related road safety is producing a road safety policy. This may cover driver training, vehicle maintenance, organising journeys and a commitment to work-related road safety. The policy should be reviewed and modified accordingly to ensure it is effective.
Topics that could be included in the policy are:
employees eligibility to drive;
employee driver training;
employees fitness to drive;
journey planning;
vehicle tax and insurance;
vehicle maintenance and inspections;
breakdown cover and recovery;
reporting accidents and incidents;
mobile phone policy;
drink and drugs policy;
satellite navigation policy; and
smoking policy.
New research has shown that a fifth of UK companies whose employees drive for work have no road safety policy in place. Does your workplace have/need a road safety policy?
On 14th June the European Commission announced that 12 substances of very high concern will be phased out from the EU market within the next four years.
In December 2016 a committee of member state experts backed the inclusion of the 12 reprotoxic, carcinogenic and endocrine-disrupting substances in the authorisation list of the EU REACH Regulations.
The dates from which the sale and use of a range of substances of very high concern will be forbidden have now been published in the EU’s Official Journal.
Following the ban the chemicals will only be allowed for specific uses and manufacturers will need to submit an application for approval to the European Commission if they wish to use them.
Substances banned from July 2020 include the following:
1,2-Benzenedicarboxylic acid, di-C7-11-branched and linear alkyl esters
1,2-Benzenedicarboxylic acid, dipentylester, branched and linear
Bis(2-methoxyethyl) phthalate
Dipentylphthalate
N-pentyl-isopentylphthalate
Substances banned from October 2020 include the following:
Anthracene oil
Pitch, coal tar, high temp;
Substances banned from January 2021:
4-(1,1,3,3-Tetramethylbutyl)phenol, ethoxylated (covering well-defined substances and UVCB substances, polymers and homologues)
4-Nonylphenol, branched and linear, ethoxylated
Unlike some chemicals such as flame retardant decaBDE, these restrictions do not allow for exemptions for certain industries or products. However, spare parts used for product repairs will be given until March 2021 to comply to avoid the premature obsolescence of items, says the Commission.
Against the recommendation of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), the EU Executive chose not to pursue bans for four other substance groups which included four repro-toxic boron substances including boric acid and repro-toxic solvent N,N-dimethylformamide.
A decision on banning carcinogenic, asbestos-like aluminosilicate and zirconia aluminosilicate refractory ceramic fibres has also been put back.
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Pressure to limit or even ban the use of nitrates and nitrites in processed meat looks set to ease following two new reports from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
Sodium and potassium salts of nitrite and nitrate (E 249-252) are authorised as food additives in the EU. They are used in meat, fish and cheese products to delay microbial growth, in particular to protect against botulism, as well as to keep meat red and enhance its flavour.
Following a re-evaluation of their safety, the EFSA have concluded that existing safe level of nitrites and nitrates used in processed food are sufficiently protective to consumers.
Currently the ADI for nitrates is 3.7 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day (mg/kg bw/day) and for nitrites the safe level has been re-established at 0.07 mg/kg bw/day.
Using a refined exposure assessment, experts estimated that consumer exposure to nitrate solely from food additives was less than 5% of the overall exposure to nitrate in food, and did not exceed the safe levels.
The agency however stated that when all dietary sources of nitrites and nitrates are considered (i.e. food additive, natural presence in foods and environmental contaminants), then for all age groups, the safe levels of acceptable daily intakes (ADIs) may be surpassed.
The EFSA have acknowledged that there are still some knowledge gaps to be filled. In particular, further studies would be useful on nitrate-nitrite conversion in human saliva and the resulting methaemoglobin formation, on nitrosamine formation in food products to which nitrites have been added, as well as on additional epidemiological evidence in humans.
EFSA has prepared a plain language summary explaining and contextualising its re-evaluation of nitrite and nitrate added to food, this document can be viewed here.
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The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) has taken the decision to develop an Approved Code of Practice to the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000.
The development process will take some time to complete and stakeholders will be consulted on the ACoP’s content in the normal way. The requirement for duty holders to comply with the 2000 Regulations is not affected by this decision. Duty holders can still refer to the former Great British ACoP as a guide to how to meet the requirements of the 2000 Regulations.
The 2000 Regulations require employers to implement a number of general measures for the management of health and safety, in particular to undertake risk assessment.
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Have you noticed that within the public sector, there’s an increasing drive to influence change in its private sector supply chain, to support delivery of sustainability objectives? Improving your purchasing decisions is the key to realising this change.
Developing a sustainable purchasing policy for your organisation is the first step to helping ensure that sustainability is embedded in the procurement process. So, if you don’t already have a sustainable procurement / purchasing policy in place, then continue reading this blog to find out what you need to consider.
A sustainable procurement policy signals buy-in at highest level of the organisation and communicates its ambition and intentions. It also provides a clear mandate for action by budget holders. There are probably more benefits to developing a policy and procuring sustainably than you think.
This includes:
Long-term savings through whole life cycle costing.
Improved risk management.
Progress towards achieving organisational sustainability targets.
Being better prepared for emerging legislation and policy.
Improved supplier diversity, e.g. by using small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and third sector organisations.
Promotes co-operation and communication with stakeholders, clients and the supply chain.
Influences the market to develop more sustainable products and services.
Help to motivate staff and raise awareness.
Maximising the success of implementing any business process requires senior level sponsorship and commitment and sustainable procurement is no different. By adopting a strategic approach, your procurement department can help ensure that limited resources are aligned to initiatives most likely to generate greatest return on investment – in this case, delivering value for money and reducing sustainability impacts or risks.
5 things to consider for an effective policy
When developing the policy it’s important to address 5 main areas and undertake the following activities:
1. Support and commitment
Obtain senior-level commitment by involving them from the start.
Ensure they review, approve and sign off the policy and other associated documents.
2. Responsibility
Identify individuals within the organisation to be accountable for embedding sustainability within the organisation and procurement process. This should include:
Designating someone or a team of people as sustainable procurement champion(s).
Ensuring champions are allocated sufficient time and support to carry out their roles effectively.
Identifying internal sustainability / sustainable procurement training requirements to enhance the capability of procurement staff.
3. Analysis
Ensure the policy reflects the organisation’s values and includes a commitment to continual improvement.
Ensure the policy operates effectively with, and does not contradict other, organisational policies.
Audit existing practices and tools to identify areas of good practice and areas for improvement.
Evaluate relationships with existing suppliers ‘ i.e. what do they offer? How do they respond to sustainable procurement questions?
Determine the economic, social and environmental impacts of the products and services purchased e.g. by carrying out a risk assessment looking at likelihood of impact, severity of impact, value or spend and level of influence.
Consider the strategic, reputational and operational implications to the organisation.
4. Objectives and KPIs
Develop key performance indicators (KPIs) and objectives to measure the success of the policy.
5. Communication and review
Make sure the policy is practical and accessible to all staff.
Ensure the policy provides a clear statement of intent regarding the organisation’s position on procurement and sustainability.
Communicate it widely, to all staff, key suppliers, and other key stakeholders in a consistent and clear manner.
Engage and work with the supply chain to adopt sustainable sourcing strategies ‘ only by doing this will the policy be effective and successful long-term.
Defining a policy in this way provides an organisation with a foundation on which to progress the integration of sustainability in a prioritised and targeted way. However, a sustainable procurement policy alone is unlikely to have the desired effect, so the next step is to develop an action plan from the policy that will help drive implementation. When developing the action plan, consider SMART objectives and targets, and ensure the following areas are covered: leadership engagement, risk, process integration, talent/people, communications, supplier engagement, and new technologies and innovation.
Consultation
The Environment Agency (EA) is proposing to replace their Operator Risk Appraisal (OPRA) scheme for sites operating under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016. The EA is planning to move to a performance based approach.
The EA has been using risk appraisal systems to help it target resources at sites posing the greatest threat to the environment since the 1990s, with a more standardised scheme set up in 2002. Under the system the fees and charges a site pays for environmental regulation are linked to its risk, performance and complexity. Latest statistics show that business compliance with environmental permit conditions has improved significantly. Therefore the EA now thinks it is time to move the system from compliance to performance-based regulation.
An informal consultation was launched on 28th April 2017 to 26th May 2017 seeking views on potential attributes and criteria that can be used to assess operator performance.
The EA is planning to replace their A-F compliance bands with four descriptive bands:
Exemplary;
Expected;
Improvement needed; and
Significant improvement needed.
The new approach will allow the EA to take operator performance into account as well as the hazards of the permitted sites, which are already covered by OPRA.
The EA will use the responses from the informal consultation to help refine their initial ideas further before carrying out a formal consultation in July 2017.
Guidance
The EA has also updated guidance on OPRA for EPR: Operational risk appraisal. The updates reflect the implementation of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 which came into force on 1st January 2017. The EA has also updated the OPRA for EPR: Installations spreadsheet. Link to guidance.
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When chemicals or other hazardous substances are used at work it can put people’s health at risk, therefore employers are required to control exposure to hazardous substances to prevent ill health.
The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH) is the law that requires employers to control substances that are hazardous to health. COSHH is a useful tool of good practice which sets eight basic measures that employers, and sometimes employees, must take.
Hazardous substances are found in nearly all work environments and include:
substances used directly in work activities (e.g. adhesives, paints, cleaning agents)
substances generated during work activities (e.g. fumes from soldering and welding)
naturally occurring substances (e.g. grain dust)
biological agents such as bacteria and other micro-organisms
Employers must ensure employees are properly informed, trained and supervised when it comes to COSHH, which is the final step in the eight basic measures that should be taken to comply with COSHH. Ensuring employees understand the risks from hazardous substances they could be exposed to are vital.
If employees don’t know what substances are hazardous, or how to use them properly, then control measures put in place during COSHH management will not be effective. Therefore, providing essential training for employees to raise COSHH awareness will ensure workers remain safe and healthy.
What do employees need to be trained on?
COSSH requires you to ensure that employees are properly informed, trained and supervised. People need to know why it’s important; they must work in a certain way and be motivated to do so. This motivation can be achieved through understanding what the health risks are and also having the confidence that the control measures in place will protect them.
Information should be provided on the following topics:
the names of the substances they work with or could be exposed to;
the risks these substances pose;
the precautions they should take to protect themselves and other employees;
how to use personal protective equipment and clothing provided;
if there are any workplace exposure limits;
results of any exposure monitoring and health surveillance; and
emergency procedures which need to be followed.
When it comes to providing this information, explain to your employees, and anyone else who needs to know, exactly what the dangers of the hazardous substances they’re working with are. It’s poor practice just to hand them a page of written information.
Within training, make sure everyone is aware that they have access to any relevant safety data sheets. It will also be useful for staff to know the main findings of your COSHH risk assessment and what this means for them.
If any significant changes are made to the type of work or work methods being carried out by employees then new training should be given. In addition, you should ensure that the level of information being given to employees is relevant and is understood.
Basic training records can be kept to demonstrate what information, instruction and training has been given to staff.
In summary
If this blog has given you food for thought, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) provide further advice and guidance on COSHH on their website. Here you can find out more about the legal requirements around COSHH, including information on the other seven basic measures that should be taken to comply.
Any health and safety training will ensure that people who work for you know how to work safely and without risks to health. This is particularly evident around COSHH and will help you meet your legal duty to protect the health and safety of your employees.
A green travel plan can be used by businesses and other organisations to identify and promote ways to encourage a range of sustainable, or less environmentally damaging transport modes, usually with the emphasis being on reducing single user private car travel. A plan addresses all transport issues within an organisation including staff travel into their place of work, staff travel on business, clients visiting the organisation’s premises and fleet management.
What are the benefits?
All plans aim to reduce the impact of travel on the environment related to the organisation. However, businesses may have other drivers for implementing the plan. Here are some of the other benefits a green travel plan can bring:
Reduced business travel costs.
Reduced staff travel costs.
Improved physical and mental health of staff, leading to increased productivity and reduced absences.
Reduced parking problems.
Reduced local pollution levels.
Improved corporate image / reputation.
Improved staff recruitment and retention through offering incentives.
What does a green travel plan cover?
Individual plans will vary between organisations; a city centre business will have more potential to utilise public transport than one based in the countryside, and a factory couldn’t allow home working like some service-based sectors might. It’s important to look at all the options for your business.
A green travel plan should look at all transport options that are available. As you would expect, walking and cycling to work should be promoted and businesses will often provide showers, lockers and bike parking facilities to encourage staff to do this ‘ no one wants to cycle to work and sit in their sweaty clothes all day.
There’s usually a big emphasis to use public transport too, for both travel to and from work and for business-related travel. For travel to and from work, you can make sure public transport information is provided to staff and you might even find local transport providers have discounts available. Some people like having their car with them for security if something went wrong and they needed to leave quickly. To overcome this, you could offer a scheme to provide rides home in emergencies, or if people have been working late.
Car-sharing is also frequently encouraged in travel plans. You could establish who lives in the same areas or travels near to other employees homes to enable them to car-share into and from work. For business-related travel, staff going to the same sites should obviously car-share as it also reduces expenses; you could incorporate this into a procedure to ensure car-sharing is utilised wherever practicable.
Staff might sometimes be reluctant to take the green travel plan onboard; making sure they understand the benefits as well as offering incentives can really help. You could offer preferential parking spaces to those who car share for instance, payments to those who don’t require a parking space, bike purchase schemes, and training for those who aren’t very confident cycling on the road. Providing updates and having back-up arrangements for when public transport doesn’t go to plan might also persuade employees who don’t have much faith in public transport.
As with all changes in a business, it’s important a green travel plan is led from the top. Your staff aren’t going to be happy being told they should be catching the bus if the MD still parks his car in a reserved spot next to the front door each day ‘ the plan should apply to everyone equally and those at the top should be the first to jump on board.
Have you started working towards a green travel plan in your business? We’d love to hear about it!
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has concluded that the regulation of asbestos in Great Britain is fit for purpose and needs little change.
Published on 15th March, the HSE’s post-implementation review of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 concluded that the rules will have saved more than 50,000 lives over the next hundred years, either from lung cancer or mesothelioma.
The regulations transposed a 2009 EU directive on the protection of workers from asbestos, introducing a new category of ‘notifiable’ work with the mineral, intended to control exposure by builders and other tradespeople. They also made minor amendments to previous regulations from 2006, answering criticism from the European Commission that these unduly widened an exemption from certain duties for low-risk activities.
Following the review the government believes that there is no pressing need to amend the regulations as they concluded that they have met their aims and achieved ‘a high level of compliance’.
The decision from the government not to amend the regulations comes despite the HSE’s business plan stating that it would make a significant contribution to the government’s deregulatory agenda in 2016/17 and their admission that the regime could be improved.
Although this is the case, the HSE has admitted that the regime can be improved largely through the revision of guidance. For example, there is scope for greater clarity between the three categories of work with asbestos: licensable (high-risk and large-scale, such as demolitions), notifiable and exempt (lowest risk, which does not need to be notified to the relevant authority).
Following the review there is only one specific change proposed to the regulations themselves, although this will not be enacted immediately. The proposed change would alter the time scale of medical examinations for people undertaking licensed work. Currently people undertaking licensed work must have a medical examination every two years but medical evidence suggests that this time period does not offer any real benefit, as asbestos-related diseases progress slowly. Therefore the proposed change would require a medical examination every three years, in-line with the EU Directive.
The HSE is planning to consult on the frequency of these exams, although the review does not specify when.
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